


A Year Without Nightmares

by Muffinworry



Category: Don't Hug Me I'm Scared (Short Film)
Genre: F/M, warning sad nerds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-10
Updated: 2015-10-10
Packaged: 2018-04-25 16:31:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4968163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Muffinworry/pseuds/Muffinworry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on the lovely Kaleuh’s inspiration of a courtroom scene and a devastating verdict.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Year Without Nightmares

**Author's Note:**

> Written ages ago, while discussing what the other concepts might think about Tony and Paige.

(In Greek mythology, Hades kidnapped Persephone, and in her misery, her mother Demeter neglected her duties, letting the crops wither and the Earth starve while she searched desperately for her daughter.)

***

The first week is glorious.

Harry and his friends find themselves returned home after…whatever that was. The house is quiet and calm in a way that it hasn’t been for two years. Paige and Tony’s rooms are empty, their belongings all gone. It feels like a weight has been lifted off Harry’s chest, like he can breathe deeply again.

The next morning, Harry is startled to realize that he’s slept through the night.

Robin and Manny are already at the breakfast table when he comes downstairs. They all grin at each other, a little awkwardly, and eat an uninterrupted meal, just the three of them.

Manny leaves for school with a spring in his step.

That day at work, Harry’s boss calls him in to her office and tells him his promotion has been approved. Harry phones Robin to tell him. Neither of them says what they’re both thinking. 

They were told they’d be compensated for their testimony.

***

Two heads pivot towards him and Harry flinches as their gazes land on him. Two pairs of eyes, amber and violet, narrow.

A gavel bangs.

“There will be no reprisals against the witness,” thunders a Voice. “Is that understood?”

Their glares are burning.

_“Is that understood?”_

Paige’s lip curls in a snarl and Tony’s face darkens, but they both look down, subdued.

“Now then, Mr. Harry,” comes the Voice from the golden light at the front of the courtroom. “Please tell us in your own words what happened after the accused came to live with you.”

***

It takes about six weeks before anyone really notices. Even then, it’s subtle at first.

Harry is listening to the radio on his drive to work, when the host apologizes for getting the name of the song wrong. He doesn’t think anything of it, until it happens a second time, and then a third. The host laughs uncomfortably, and makes a weak joke about how all the new pop songs are starting to sound the same.

Music sales take a dive that quarter. Even piracy drops off sharply. The movie theatres are full of sequels and remakes that nobody wants to watch. The same three or four celebrity faces appear on the cover of every magazine. Clothing in the stores is a half-hearted recycling of every trend from the past three decades.

The streets are greyer, somehow.

***

“Guilty,” booms the Voice. “For your interference and failure to abide by the Rules, you are sentenced to vacate this mortal’s home immediately.”

Harry, Robin and Manny look at each other in delight.

“And,” the Voice continues, “Since you obviously cannot control yourselves around each other, you will be parted.”

Paige and Tony’s heads snap up in shock.

“What?” they say in unison.

Paige’s hair flattens itself to her head until it looks like it’s dripping down her back. She bites her lip. Her partner’s face is stony, as it has been the whole trial, but his bound hands are gripping the railing in front of him so hard Harry fears it might break.

“You will cease all contact with each other.”

Paige sways on her feet. Tony swallows and looks at his hands. “…please,” he says, almost inaudibly.

Harry looks away. He should be laughing and cheering. He tries to think about the torture they’ve inflicted on him. On Robin. On Manny. They deserve everything they get, and worse.

But he knows what hopelessness looks like. He’s seen it often enough in the mirror. Against all reason, Harry feels sorry for the monsters.

Harry has learned a lot about courage over the last two years.

He clears his throat, and rises to his feet again.

***

It gets worse.

By mid-winter, students across the country face suspension en masse for copying their assignments, despite tearful protests that they hadn’t done anything wrong.

Several well-known professors are accused of plagiarism; their careers ended in disgrace.

Researchers find their progress blocked, as lab tests yield the same results over and over again. Desperately needed breakthroughs fail to happen, and experimental medical treatments are halted.

Venture capital dries up as investors search for new products without success. Patent offices close their doors around the world.

Newscasters begin to talk about an economic downturn.

***

“We will reconvene in one year. If, during that time, you have each managed not to harm a single human, we shall reconsider. You may thank this mortal for his intercession, which frankly you do not deserve.” The gavel bangs with finality. “Now go.”

There’s a swirl of blinding light and two pained cries, and when Harry opens his eyes again, Tony and Paige have vanished.

“We thank you for your service,” says a musical, dispassionate voice. And then Harry and Manny and Robin are standing in front of their newly vacant house, blinking at each other.

***

At first, everything is…well, it’s not perfect, exactly, but it’s close. Harry and Robin do well at their jobs; career success is a lot easier when you’re sleeping at night instead of listening to furious immortal lovers screaming threats at each other. Manny finds delight in animal therapy, and begins volunteering at the local Humane Society. They take up hobbies. It’s like a dream. And if the outside world seems a little dark and dull, well, they’ve had enough excitement to last several lifetimes.

It’s winter when Manny calls Harry to pick him up at school, annoyed that Harry forgot, and they argue before realizing that Harry’s watch is forty minutes slow.

Then Harry sends an email, and it ends up in Robin’s spam filter with a date marked as 2114.

Rush hour slowly becomes a nightmare as late commuters clog the roads, unable to understand why their alarm clocks failed to go off.

Journalists have a field day chattering about the “return of Y2K” and other nonsense.

Court cases fall apart as security camera time stamps become unreliable.

Timed login screens shut down before anyone can get in to the systems.

There’s a diplomatic incident at the Olympics when the judges disqualify several gold medallists on suspicion of interference with the stopwatches.

Two jets nearly collide when their landing software glitches and fails to deploy on time, and Harry suspects the only reason there are no casualities is because it would violate the terms of the agreement.

Harry doesn’t want to think about the timers that control, say, elevator software. Or bombs.

Time and Creativity mourn each other, and the world is uneasy, and doesn’t know why.

***

Harry storms into the room that used to be Tony’s workshop.

“Stop it!” he shouts. His voice echoes off the empty walls. “Stop it! I’ll help you. All right? I’ll help you.”

He waits for a moment, feeling stupid. He closes the door and walks back to the kitchen to make dinner.

His wristwatch starts to tick again.

The next day, there’s an envelope in the mailbox addressed to Paige in Tony’s distinctive copperplate handwriting. Harry brings it in with the rest of the mail and puts it on Paige’s empty bed and closes the door.

The next day, the letter is gone, and Harry finds a black lipstick print on the hallway mirror. He leaves it in place.

When you know what nightmares truly are, a haunted house is nothing.

***

Harry swears he catches a glimpse of her in the garden one foggy night. She’s wispy, almost transparent. The ink at her neck and arms is a faded grey. She walks soundlessly by Harry without noticing him, and her beloved plants twist on their stems and bow as she passes.

***

The year passes, and as promised, there are no reprisals. The thought that there are powers out there capable of restraining Tony and Paige is…comforting and oddly disturbing.

Their minds and bodies begin to recover, as do their social lives and bank accounts. The little family prospers.

And every few days a letter that’s not addressed to any of them will appear in the mailbox, and disappear again.


End file.
